Northeast Florida artists who've recently shared new albums (clockwise from top left): Druzin, Patrick Hagerman, Ulysses Owens Jr., Bad Madonna, The Something Specials, Taylor Roberts | Courtesy of the artists
Published on August 18, 2026 at 4:05 pm
Free local news and info, in your inbox at 6 a.m. M-F. Sign up for the Jacksonville Today newsletter.
Back in 2024, shortly after decamping to Los Angeles, St. Augustine musician Taylor Olin (formerly of the local garage-rock trio Dust Fuss) released “Love,” a song with her new band, The Something Specials. The song is pleasantly sunny, a retro-fied dose of classic rock that hearkens to Buckingham-Nicks-era Fleetwood Mac. But, upon its release, “Love” garnered little attention outside of a review from the Jacksonville Music Experience.
Two years later, the enigmatic forces of the algorithm began prompting the song’s inclusion in TikToks and Instagram reels. Six months and innumerable posts later, including a few created by celebrity influencers like Reese Witherspoon, “Love” has racked up more than 20 million streams on Spotify, as recounted in a recent Los Angeles Times feature.
Jacksonville Today thanks our sponsors. Become one.
Olin, meanwhile, who had since escaped the Southern California wildfires and relocated to Europe, was as surprised as anyone by the viral success of The Something Specials, telling the LA Times of all the new listeners: “We had no idea where we were getting it from.” Buoyed by the attention, Olin and her band released Somewhere Up There, their debut full-length, last week. They’ll have yet another debut in late October, this time as a headlining performer at New York City’s Sultan Room.
Like Somewhere Up There, a new album by Duval-bred jazz drummer and bandleader Ulysses Owens Jr. also finds its origins in the algorithm. A couple of years ago, Owens Jr. participated in a YouTube video challenge in which musicians perform the drum parts to a popular songs they’ve never heard before. The video, Juilliard Prof Hears Nirvana for the First Time, amassed nearly 8 million views, which prompted Owens Jr.’s ever-shifting ensemble, Generation Y, to record a dozen grunge classics (on the spot, no rehearsal) and release the session as an album, Kind of Grunge. [Disclosure: I was asked to write the liner notes for the album’s vinyl jacket.]
Clearly the power of the algorithm is real. It’s also mysterious. In the streaming era, local artists can find it challenging to build an audience for their music – even in their own backyard – as they’re increasingly crowded out by algorithmic recommendation (not to mention music made with artificial intelligence).
To subvert the algorithm, here’s a human-curated list of new albums recently released by artists from Jacksonville and surrounding areas.
Jacksonville Today thanks our sponsors. Become one.
The Something Specials
Somewhere Up There | Folk Rock
Out of seemingly nowhere, the debut single, “Love” by The Something Specials, fronted by St. Augustine-bred singer and guitarist Taylor Olin, became a viral smash two years after its initial release. Coincidentally, Olin and her collaborators – Josh Augustin and Nathan Slone – were prepared to capitalize, sharing Somewhere Up There, a 15-track suite of pleasantly sunny, retro-fied songs that channel the the glint of the Pacific glint and canyon canopy of classic rock lore.
Spotify | YouTube | Apple Music | Bandcamp
Ulysses Owens Jr. and Generation Y
Kind of Grunge | Jazz
Less than six months after the release of the full-length Around the World with U, Duval-bred drummer, Juilliard professor and three-time Grammy winner Ulysses Owens Jr. is back leading his band, Generation Y. This time, though, instead of jazz standards and original compositions, the group tackles the alt-rock canon. The 12-track Kind of Grunge features inventive, on-the-fly takes on popular tunes by Nirvana, Soundgarden, Mudhoney, and more from the early-’90s milieu, including a Latin-jazz-infused rendition of Pearl Jam’s “Even Flow,” the video to which has racked up a solid more than 200k views on YouTube.
Spotify | YouTube | Apple Music | Bandcamp
ROADIE
Jump Start | Rock
Singer-songwriter and guitarist Alexis Rhode previously fronted the indie rock quartet Bad Madonna. In early August, Rhode shared Jump Start, her first full-length release as ROADIE, which features the single “Alien Jesus,” a down-tempo, minor-key ballad of distorted guitars and plaintive, layered vocals. ROADIE plays an album release show at the Walrus in Murray Hill on Friday, Aug. 21.
Spotify | Apple Music | Bandcamp
Patrick Hagerman
Gathering Turquoise | Americana
In May, after 20 years as a working musician, locally based singer-songwriter and guitarist Patrick Hagerman released his debut long player. Those years in the field are evident in the 10 songs of Gathering Turquoise – a tightly crafted mix of blues, folk and retro country. To push the album over the finish line, Hagerman called on a cast of familiar local players, including drummer Derek Engstrom, pedal-steel specialist Landon Gay and even Blue Jay Listening Room impresario Cara Murphy, who added background vocals and earned production credits.
Spotify | YouTube | Apple Music
Druzin
Humidity | Electronic
For fans of electronic dance music – or superfans of breakout local alt-rock band Flipturn – drummer Mitch Fountain has a pulsing new solo EP. Released in June under the moniker Druzin, Humidity is a sub-30-minute collection of dancefloor-aimed instrumentals.
Spotify | YouTube | Apple Music | Bandcamp
Taylor Roberts
Sanctuary | Jazz
Duval jazz-guitar Maestro Taylor Roberts‘ Sanctuary is up on all streaming platforms and features Roberts’ deft seven-string interpretations of pop hits like the Beatles’ “In My Life” and the Bee Gees “How Deep is your Love?” alongside jazz faves, including Hank Mobley’s “This I Dig of You.”
Know of a local release we need to hear? We’re all ears. Send us note: mshaw@wjct.org
